50cc Chinese scooter electrical issues
 

Hello everyone!

I purchased a used 50cc GY6 scooter from a local about a month ago. Everything seemed to work well, until the entire electrical system decided to quit on me all of a sudden. As in when I turned the key to start it, the fuel gauge didn't respond and when the engine turned on none of the indicator lights would function. The next day it worked just fine until the electrical died WHILE riding (engine runs fine). Now it doesn't work at all.

I originally thought it was the battery so I bought a new one, and a charger. That didn't solve the issue. So I checked the fuse right next to the battery and it looked intact so I am at loss here. Does anyone have any ideas as to what it could be? Keep in mind everything worked when I first got it, and it slowly stopped working.

Please I'm desperate to get back out on the roads!

Looks can be deceiving, sudden and complete power loss sounds like a fuse to me. The little glass type, inline fuses are known to cause problems. Can be diagnosed with a multimeter, and should have been replaced with a blade type fuse, at time of delivery to first owner.

But with a fuse, when it blows doesn't the connection typically shut off completely, and there's no hope in it still completing the circuit? In my case the electrical stopped working and started working again, until it eventually stopped working altogether. Still, fuses are so dang cheap in the grand scheme of things it'd be worth replacing the one by the battery without proper diagnosis.

Let me know what you think! Thanks for your reply

Check the ground (Black) wire. It goes from the battery to the engine and then to the frame. If it's not the fuse it could be the ground wire.

Wait! Did you say the engine is running while everything else is dead? That would require checking for loose connections or an ignition switch problem.

I'll check all grounds and replace the fuse and let you know what happens.

That is correct! As of now, it still functions perfectly fine, just without any electrical whatsoever. Actually last night I was riding and 15 minutes into the ride, the lights came on for roughly 15 seconds. This is the first time the scooter had shown any sign of electrical activity in over two weeks... Ideas?

I also just replaced the entire ignition assembly roughly 3 weeks ago after I lost the only key the previous owner gave me. After the installation I had no issues until the electrical started to go out on me. I don't think the ignition is the issue as I triple checked the connections before buttoning up the front.

Problem solved!

So I went around the scooter and replaced the single fuse by the battery, re-connected all electrical sockets to their respective partner, cleaned all the grounds, and still nothing. So I (quadruple) checked the ignition assembly I had replaced just 3 weeks earlier. The only thing out of place was that the red wire's housing had melted slightly, but it was like that when I bought the scooter so I didn't think anything of it. So I re-attached the ignition and voila! It started up just fine. I guess the melted socket didn't allow the red wires to make proper contact, although visually it looked fine :shrug:

So now I need to replace the current (slightly melted) socket with a new one. Not bad, and easy to do. Yee boy!